With the holiday season fast approaching, Peterborough-based Living Local Marketplace is making it easy for businesses and organizations to give gifts to every colleague or client on their shopping list.
At her boutique at 1179 Chemong Road and on her online shop, owner Alicia Doris offers hundreds of unique products from artisans and small businesses in Kawarthas Northumberland and from across Ontario, specializing in locally made gourmet goods. She recently took home the Retail Award at the Peterborough and the Kawarthas Chamber of Commerce’s 2023 Business Excellence Awards, just a year after she was honoured with the Chamber’s Local Focus Award.
The reason for both awards is clear when you browse through Living Local’s recently launched holiday corporate gift guide and when you see the store’s wide range of bath and body products, home and gourmet goods, delicious treats, and much more from over 150 Ontario-based businesses. Using the catalogue as inspiration, corporate customers can work directly with Living Local to develop unique customized gifts, curated by packaging, product, quantity, and price point.
“We create gifts that are very much in keeping with the business or organization, the recipients, and the intention of the gifting initiative,” Alicia explains. “The corporate gift guide is a jumping-off point.”
While Living Local has a brick-and-mortar retail store in Peterborough, Alicia originally began her business online during the early days of the pandemic as a seasonal subscription box service — a passion project designed to support local makers. During the pandemic, she also began creating custom boxes for corporate customers who wanted to send care packages to staff members who were adapting to working from home.
“Corporate gifting has really always been the foundation of Living Local,” Alicia recalls. “There is incredible power when businesses and organizations choose to recognize their staff, their colleagues, or their clients with locally made products or products from small businesses. These are powerful purchases.”
As an advocate for choosing local, Alicia points out how important it is to support Ontario’s small businesses this holiday season. While many have been able to bounce back from the financial impact of the pandemic, they are now facing an economic slowdown.
“It’s a much more challenging time in some ways for small businesses than it was early on in the pandemic,” notes Alicia, who regularly works closely with many artisans and small businesses. “This Christmas season is going to be incredibly important and maybe even pivotal for some.”
By purchasing Living Local’s locally sourced collections for clients and colleagues, corporate gift buyers will also get the satisfaction of knowing they are supporting small businesses in a big way.
“Often these purchases mean strengthening the future sustainability of a small business in the community,” explains Alicia. “When I have an opportunity to order 25, 50, 100, or even more of a product from a small maker, the ripple effect of that is really significant and powerful.”
Lindsey Irwin, founder of Stoney Lake’s Old Jar Candle Co. and one of the makers featured in Living Local’s corporate gift guide, agrees.
“When someone buys in bulk from you the way that Alicia does, it increases cash flow that month,” she says. “If you need to buy supplies, which so many of us do, you’re comfortable doing that. Those big purchases are very important for makers.”
Having grown her business alongside Alicia’s, Lindsey’s sustainable candles were included in Living Local’s earliest subscription boxes. She knows first hand that another ripple effect is the exposure that comes from this type of gifting.
“I have so many people tell me they’ve seen my candles in different businesses, or they’ve been given my candles from their employer or from their colleagues, and I know it’s from Living Local’s catalogue,” Lindsey explains.
“Being on her website initially and then in her store has truly helped me grow my business.”
Living Local’s catalogue already offers corporate customers plenty of themed gift ideas, whether they’re looking for packages that will be a delicious treat for their colleague — like the “Seriously Sweet” Santa Sack with Millbrook bourbon maple syrup, Buckhorn apple pie jam, and Oshawa salted caramel shortbread ($40) — or packages that will help them relax — like the “Forest Bathing” Santa Sack with bath products from Peterborough’s The Willow’s Bark ($22).
Corporate customers looking for a small package or something much larger can also work one-on-one with Alicia to develop their gifts exactly as they imagine them. Whether the client has an idea for a theme of the types of products they’d like to give or if they need suggestions, she is there to support and collaborate with them.
“Because the majority of this gifting is custom, they’re choosing the products they want to share,” Alicia says, pointing out that many corporate customers are interested in including products made in their own communities.
For example, in creating Christmas gifts for its staff for the last two years with Living Local, Peterborough County has featured and shared the work of makers in the city and county. In doing so, they recognized their employees while also supporting makers in their own community.
Along with customized packages, Living Local will also insert a hand-written card from the gift giver if requested. There is also an option to brand any or all of the gift giver’s Christmas tags, ribbons, and packaging. New this year, the “Santa Sack” is a sustainable packaging alternative to the various-sized gift boxes. The gifts will be packaged with a linen draw-string bag, ribbon, and matching gift tag.
One of Living Local’s longtime corporate customers is Peterborough’s Mortlock Construction Inc. The company’s vice president Craig Mortlock is a strong believer in the power of businesses working together, and has worked with Living Local for the last three years.
“We believe that as a local business, it is our role and responsibility to support each other, and support our community — together, we are stronger,” Craig says. “But for us to pull together an arrangement of local gift items would be a challenge to source, and very time consuming as a business. Alicia does all that work for us so it’s a win, win, win.”
Adding another win to the equation, Living Local is donating $2 from the purchase of every gift box to Hospice Peterborough this holiday season.
While the holidays are obviously a busy time for Alicia, Living Local supports corporate gift giving all year long, whether for an anniversary, Administrative Professionals Day, or other special occasion.
For example, last spring, Living Local created three gift collections for a parent-led faculty and staff appreciation event at Lakefield College School, which featured three different collections and offerings from seven makers.
“There are all sorts of opportunities to do this sort of gifting,” Alicia notes.
As for holiday gifting, Alicia explains it’s important to start planning the gifts by early November so she can get the orders to her local makers and small businesses. This is especially important for those makers who have a time-consuming process for their creations.
“In starting early, we have an opportunity to potentially add handmade items like pottery,” Alicia points out. “That means we can include items that are really unique and personalized and quite extraordinary.”
Living Local’s 2023 holiday corporate gift guide is now available at livinglocalmarketplace.ca/pages/corporate-gifts.
For more holiday giving inspiration, follow Living Local Marketplace on Instagram and Facebook.
This branded editorial was created in partnership with Living Local Marketplace. If your business or organization is interested in a branded editorial, contact us.
